1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to tape storage devices, and more particularly to a buckler assembly having a drive leader sensor in a tape drive.
2. Related Art
Tape drives use a magnetic tape having a thin film of magnetic material to store information. Typically, the magnetic tape is moved between a pair of reels, past a transducer to record or read back information from the magnetic tape.
In one type of tape drive, one of the reels is part of the tape drive, while the other reel is part of a removable tape cartridge. In this type of tape drive, the reel that is a part of the tape drive is commonly referred to as a take-up reel, while the reel that is a part of the tape cartridge is commonly referred to as a cartridge reel.
When the tape cartridge is inserted into the tape drive, the magnetic tape on the cartridge reel is coupled to the take-up reel of the tape drive. Typically, a buckler assembly in the tape drive couples a drive leader, which is connected to the take-up reel, to a cartridge leader, which is connected to the magnetic tape in the cartridge reel. When the drive leader is coupled to the cartridge leader, the take-up reel can then pull the drive leader and thus the cartridge leader to extract the magnetic tape from the tape cartridge.
However, if the take-up reel pulls the drive leader before the drive leader is properly positioned in the buckler assembly, the drive leader will be retracted into the take-up reel. When this situation occurs, the drive leader cannot be easily extracted from the take-up reel because the drive leader is not connected to the cartridge leader and the magnetic tape.